On Monday, 14th March, 2016, CG Abdullah attended the IMT-M10 and IMT-M11 Handover Ceremony at IMT-M Headquarter in Cotabato City.
A new contingent of Malaysian peacekeepers IMT-M11 replaced their outgoing compatriots (IMT-M10) after observing for a year the enforcement of the ceasefire accord between the government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF).
Major Gen. Datuk Wira Zamrose Bin Mohd Zain of the Malaysian Royal Armed Forces leads the incoming group of foreign ceasefire observers for the International Monitoring Team (IMT-M11).
Major Gen. Datuk Wira Zamrose and his men replaced the IMT-M10, under Major Gen. Dato Sheik Mokhsin Bin Sheik Hassan.
Major Gen. Dato Sheik Mokhsin and his men completed their year-long monitoring mission in flashpoint areas covered by the 1997 ceasefire agreement including Mamasapano.
Officials of the outgoing IMT-M10 had turn over their headquarters in Cotabato City to the IMT’s 11th contingent in a symbolic transition exercise.
The event was witnessed by Consul General Abdullah, representatives from the government and MILF’s joint ceasefire committee and officials of various peace advocacy blocs.
A large part of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) is covered by the IMT’s ceasefire monitoring mission. The MILF has bastions in the ARMM’s component provinces Maguindanao and Lanao del Sur, which are both in mainland Mindanao, and in the islands of Basilan, Sulu and Tawi-Tawi.
The IMT is comprised of soldiers from Malaysia, Brunei and Indonesia, and civilian conflict resolution (JPM and Wisma Putra) and rehabilitation experts from Norway, Japan (Embassy of Japan and JICA) and the European Union.
They have been helping the government and the MILF enforce the interim ceasefire since 2003. The Malaysian government has also been helping push the government-MILF peace efforts as third party facilitator.
The peacekeeping mission plays a very big role in keeping peace in many areas inside the autonomous region and Mindanao as a whole. ARMM Governor Mujiv Hataman and his constituent-officials in the ARMM Government support the Mindanao peace process extensively and he looks forward to a fellowship meeting with the officials of the IMT-M11 after they have settled in.
Consulate General of Malaysia
Davao City
Philippines
14th March, 2016
